REPRESENTATIONS OF THE HOLOCAUST IN TEXAS WORLD HISTORY TEXTBOOKS FROM 1947 TO 1980 by RYAN NOLAN ABT Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN HISTORY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON MAY 2015 Copyright © by Ryan Nolan Abt 2015 All Rights Reserved ii Acknowledgements I first thank my patient and encouraging wife, Maggie, who spurred me toward this accomplishment and without complaint accepted the difficulties to which seeking it led. She encourages me and I am the better man for having her. I thank my mother for her diligence in editing the entire work and for her positivity in doing so. To all my family I extend thanks for their support in this endeavor. From my very early time at the University of Texas at Arlington, Dr. Thomas Adam has been an encourager, a mentor, and a firm motivator. His work with me has made me who I am as a scholar and has taught me so very much in the way that I approach the discipline of history. I have found my time in his class and working through my thesis to be of the greatest value. I also appreciate the great time and effort of Dr. Andrew Milson and Dr. Steven Reinhardt. Without their work on my behalf, I would not have succeeded in accomplishing this goal. When I consider how much I have developed in the past few years, I cannot help but thank all those professors whose classes I attended while at UTA. Doctors Babiracki, Cawthon, Cole, Demhardt, Garrigus, Narrett, and Joan Reinhardt are appreciated in their work on behalf of all the students of UTA. I also recognize the great support I have received from various sources throughout this work. I thank all my friends, from those who encouraged me to work to those who encouraged me to take an occasional break. I appreciate the staff of Southwest Christian School for all that they have done to foster an atmosphere of scholarship and encouragement. Finally, I am thankful for God the Father for His making this possible April 3, 2015 iii Abstract REPRESENTATIONS OF THE HOLOCAUST IN TEXAS WORLD HISTORY TEXTBOOKS FROM 1947 TO 1990 Ryan Abt, MA The University of Texas at Arlington, 2015 Supervising Professor: Thomas Adam The purpose of this study was to analyze the topic of the Holocaust as represented in the World History textbooks adopted by the state of Texas from the adoption cycle of 1947 to the 1984 adoption cycle. Texas textbooks were chosen due to the state’s influence in the textbook industry due to its population and adoption process. The textbooks are analyzed as cultural artifacts which, when analyzed, can give a deeper understanding of the society into which they were produced. The textbooks were analyzed in relation to Holocaust scholarship and Holocaust related cultural events and productions which were relevant to the period during which the textbooks were produced. The analysis of these textbooks depicts a society in which textbooks told only the story which had the least debate and which upheld the earlier, accepted narrative. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................iii Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iv List of Illustrations ............................................................................................................. viii List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1 Introduction......................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2 1947 Textbook Cycle ....................................................................................... 10 Cultural Representations .............................................................................................. 10 Representations of the Holocaust in Textbooks ........................................................... 17 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 25 Chapter 3 1948-1954 Textbook Cycle .............................................................................. 27 Representations of the Holocaust in Newsreels and Film ............................................ 27 Events and Attitudes Affecting Interpretations of the Holocaust .................................. 30 Representations of the Holocaust in Textbooks ........................................................... 34 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 46 Chapter 4 1954-1962 Textbook Cycle .............................................................................. 47 Events and Attitudes Affecting Interpretations of the Holocaust .................................. 47 Representations of the Holocaust in Print .................................................................... 50 Representations of the Holocaust in Textbooks ........................................................... 53 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 63 Chapter 5 1962-1971 Textbook Cycle .............................................................................. 66 Textbook Industry and Studies ..................................................................................... 67 Events and Attitudes Affecting Interpretations of the Holocaust .................................. 68 Representations of the Holocaust in Performance Arts ............................................... 69 Representations of the Holocaust in Print .................................................................... 70 v Representations of the Holocaust in Textbooks ........................................................... 76 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 92 Chapter 6 1971-1977 Textbook Cycle .............................................................................. 93 Events and Attitudes Affecting Interpretations of the Holocaust .................................. 93 Textbook Industry and Studies ..................................................................................... 98 Representations of the Holocaust in Print .................................................................. 100 Representations of the Holocaust in Film ................................................................... 101 Representations of the Holocaust in Academic History ............................................. 104 Representations of the Holocaust in Textbooks ......................................................... 114 Summary .................................................................................................................... 133 Chapter 7 1977-1984 Textbook Cycle ............................................................................ 134 Events and Attitudes Affecting Interpretations of the Holocaust ................................ 134 Textbook Industry and Studies ................................................................................... 137 Representations of the Holocaust in Print .................................................................. 142 Representations of the Holocaust in Film ................................................................... 144 Representations of the Holocaust in Academic History ............................................. 148 Representations of the Holocaust in Textbooks ......................................................... 154 Summary .................................................................................................................... 185 Chapter 8 1984-1990 Textbook Cycle ............................................................................ 187 Events and Attitudes Affecting Interpretations of the Holocaust ................................ 187 Textbook Industry and Studies ................................................................................... 193 Representations of the Holocaust in Film ................................................................... 196 Representations of the Holocaust in Theater ............................................................. 208 Representations of the Holocaust in Academic History ............................................. 211 Representations of the Holocaust in Textbooks ......................................................... 222 vi Summary .................................................................................................................... 257 Chapter 9 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 259 References ...................................................................................................................... 262 Biographical Information ................................................................................................. 272 vii List of Illustrations Figure 3-1 Image and Caption from The World’s History ................................................. 44 Figure 5-1 Image and Caption from Story of Nations ....................................................... 84 Figure 6-1 Image and Caption from A Global History of